LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Donovan Mitchell returned from injury to score 33 points and lead Cleveland to a 114-100 National Basketball Association victory over former Cavaliers star LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.

Darius Garland added 24 points and the Cavs pulled away in the second half against a lackluster Lakers side that got only two points from star Anthony Davis after the interval.

Jarrett Allen added 16 points for the Cavaliers, who won their eighth straight and at 8-1 are second to the 9-0 Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference.

The winning streak is Cleveland's longest since a 13-game streak in 2017 — James's final season with the club.

Meanwhile, the sputtering Lakers fell to 2-7.

They led by as many as 12 in the first half and were up by six at the break but couldn't muster a response as they were outscored 56-36 in the second half.

"All of our spirit seemed to have left the building, and that's one of the parts of re-establishing a winning culture is being able to maintain a competitive spirit," Lakers coach Darvin Ham said.

"What we saw in the first half is how we want to play. We were right there going toe-to-toe with them, we actually had the lead going into halftime."

"And then second half, again, shots don't go down, a few turnovers happen and we kind of dropped our heads a little bit and they just kept revving it up, revving it up, revving it up."

"We have to continue to fight and that can't change, continue to be competitive and that can't change," Ham said.